A panicked 10-year-old boy called Rhode Island State Police to say that his father was driving while under the influence.

Police say they received a call from the boy Wednesday night reporting that he and his 12-year-old sister were passengers in a speeding vehicle being driven by their father, 49-year-old Owen Gilman of Warwick, R.I., on Interstate 95 headed from Rhode Island into Connecticut. The boy told police he was considering jumping from the vehicle because he was frightened of crashing at such a high speed.

The boy’s call was lost while being transferred to Connecticut State Police, but soon afterward troopers from nearby Montville, Conn., responded to reports of a motor vehicle crash. Sure enough, Gilman's Mercedes Benz had slammed into the back of a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The driver of the Jeep, whose overturned vehicle was more than 50 feet off the shoulder of the highway, was brought to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Gilman’s children were treated for lacerations.

Meanwhile, Gilman failed his field sobriety test and was found to have a considerable amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle, authorities said.

Gilman, who appeared in New London Superior Court on Thursday, received a litany of charges, from reckless driving and operating under the influence to risk of injury to a minor and illegal sale of a controlled substance.

According to a local CBS affiliate, the judge told the father of two that he had “behaved horribly and should feel blessed his children are safe.”